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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/29408892">Keeping in Step</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/cwildairs/pseuds/cwildairs'>cwildairs</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Tortall - Tamora Pierce</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Gen, Pre-Canon</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-02-13</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-02-13</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-13 10:54:40</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,372</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/29408892</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/cwildairs/pseuds/cwildairs</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>While each wanted things the other could never see the worth of, the twins could always predict each other’s actions.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Alanna of Pirate's Swoop and Olau &amp; Thom of Trebond</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>11</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>19</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Collections:</b></td><td>Chocolate Box - Round 6</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Keeping in Step</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><ul class="associations">
      <li>For <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/users/mistrali/gifts">mistrali</a>.</li>



    </ul></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“It’s only summoning light! What are you so scared of?”</p>
<p>Alanna glared at her brother. He knew what she was scared of—magic, her own and that of others. Of the crackling, itching feeling that surged through her body when she reached inside herself to use her Gift, of the way she was never sure whether she was using it or it was using her. Thom thought this was nonsense, but he still knew. </p>
<p>“It is a simple spell,” said Maude, “and practicing it will help you learn control.” </p>
<p>Maude’s attitude towards the twins’ magic was another thing that scared Alanna. It was the way she was always emphasizing control, as though the two children were poorly kept fires that might throw out dangerous sparks at any moment. </p>
<p>When Alanna still hesitated, Thom sighed and said, “I’ll let you take me hunting tomorrow if you try it.”</p>
<p>Alanna wasn’t moved by his sacrifice—Thom wasn’t interested in her progress, he was only hungry to see magic worked—but she nodded anyway and gently bit the tip of her tongue to still her nerves. Coram would be happy if she could drag Thom out. </p>
<p>She closed her eyes and reached for her Gift, silently reciting the instructions Maude had given them. Thom had produced a faint glow that had held steady for longer than Alanna could hold her breath before guttering out. He had been wild with self-satisfaction and eager to have another go, but Maude had insisted on Alanna trying. </p>
<p>Alanna pulled a thread from that purple ball of magic at her core. Her skin tingled as the power coursed through her, searching for an outlet. Her nose began to itch. She directed the power into her outstretched hand. She felt sweat, clammy on the back of her neck under her hair. </p>
<p>“You did it!” cried Thom.</p>
<p>Alanna opened her eyes. There was a violet glow in her palm, pale even against the light of the candles that were barely keeping back the darkness of a gloomy autumn afternoon, fainter than Thom’s had been.</p>
<p>Thom was watching her raptly, as triumphant as he had been over his own success. Maude was looking at the glow, nodding slowly. “Try making it burn brighter.” </p>
<p>Nothing bad had happened yet. Alanna channeled a little more power to the light. She felt the moment it went wrong. It was like a surge of storm water bursting a gutter, and the gutter was Alanna’s uncertain control over her Gift. It followed the direction she had pushed it in, but it was no longer doing her bidding. </p>
<p>The glow became a violet-white blaze. Maude leapt to her feet in such a hurry that the stool she was sitting on clattered to the floor. Alanna’s gaze was fixed almost against her will on that light, but she still glimpsed out of the corner of her eye how Maude shielded her face and shrank back.</p>
<p>“Enough!” cried Maude. “End it now!” </p>
<p>The light was so powerful that the room was as bright as if the noon sun were overhead, deliberately bearing down. The light had substance, pressing on Alanna’s skin, itching like a burn without heat. She tried to call the power back—</p>
<p>Thom grabbed her other hand but quickly let go when sparks burst out where their skin touched. “Make it listen to you!” he said as he shook his stinging hand. “It’s part of you!” </p>
<p>Maybe the trouble was that Alanna did not want it to be part of her. She tried to follow her twin’s order, but the magic was simply out her grasp. Her head was pounding, right behind her eyes, and her knees were quivering. Finally, the light began to dim on its own, and Alanna knew that her body was becoming too exhausted to support it. She gladly leaned into the weariness. When her knees buckled and she went down, the storm surge of magic had slowed to a trickle she could once again command. She released it. Through shaking lips, she whispered, “So mote it be.” </p>
<p>After the horrible light, the room felt almost pitch black for a long moment. Alanna could hear Maude muttering something under her breath. She couldn’t make out the words, but it sounded like a prayer. </p>
<p>Thom tried to pull her up, but he wasn’t strong, and Alanna was dead weight. He nearly went down with her and gave up. Instead, he stood over her, crowing: “That was amazing! I’ve never seen anything like it! It was like…your Gift was a presence in the whole room! Imagine—” </p>
<p>“Shut up!” </p>
<p>“That is enough.” </p>
<p>Alanna and Maude spoke almost at the same time. Thom scoffed but didn’t say anything else, watching in pointed silence as Alanna sat on the floor panting. When she finally felt that her legs would hold her weight, she got up. </p>
<p>“I’m never doing magic again,” she said vehemently as she stomped out of the room. </p>
<p>“She doesn’t mean that,” she heard Thom say confidently behind her. “She never means it.” Maude’s answer was sharp and frightened, but Alanna was too far away to hear it. She was running. She didn’t stop until she was in her own room, where she hurled herself onto the bed and laid there trembling, from exhaustion, from the memory of what had just happened, and simply from the cold that was inescapable in Trebond Castle from September to May. </p>
<p>Thom found her quickly enough that she knew he must have run, too. Her brother hated any kind of physical activity. His voice was cross and breathless when he sat on the bed next to her and poked her in the calf with what must have been all his strength. It even hurt a little. </p>
<p>“What’s wrong with you? Don’t you know what we could do with that much power once we’re trained properly?” He heaved a long sigh. “Not that Father will ever let us be trained properly. I suppose we’ll be lucky if we ever leave Trebond instead of rotting away here like his books.” </p>
<p>“I don’t care,” said Alanna. If she said anything else, she would cry, and she hated crying. She was eight years old, not a baby. </p>
<p>Thom poked her again. “You know you didn’t mean it. It would be stupid not to learn everything Maude can teach us, and no twin of mine is stupid.” </p>
<p>“Maude is scared of us.”</p>
<p>Thom sniffed, not denying it.</p>
<p>“We’ll find a way to leave when we’re older,” she said, sitting up and taking her legs out of poking range, “even if we have to run away.” </p>
<p>“Together?” Thom wanted to know. </p>
<p>Alanna hesitated. The idea of Thom going off to do magic on his own scared her more than magic itself did. She knew that Thom liked it when people feared him, though she didn’t understand it. Maybe it was just the attention. Maybe if their father ever paid attention to them… Alanna tossed her head angrily. She was old enough to understand that it was no use putting your hopes on changing other people. You could only rely on yourself to be strong enough to go after what you wanted. </p>
<p>The question was…could she and Thom both get what they wanted at the same time? </p>
<p>She couldn’t rely on changing her brother, either. </p>
<p>“I’ll never leave you here alone,” she said firmly. </p>
<p>Thom nodded, satisfied with whatever this answer told him. He didn’t try convincing her to continue magic lessons again. Maude looked surprised and relieved when Alanna showed up to the next lesson as usual, but Thom treated it as a matter of course. While each wanted things the other could never see the worth of, the twins could always predict each other’s actions. </p>
<p>Alanna threw herself into practicing the light summoning spell with unusual dedication. Deep in her heart, she was sure that, if they each went after what they wanted, she and Thom would sooner or later be separated. What would happen after that was something it was easier not to think about. For now she could only try to keep Thom in sight, to match her progress to his, so that she could have a hope of dealing with whatever came.</p>
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